Dr.
Ball correct on CO2 and scientist/bureaucrats
Times-Republican,
Marshalltown, Iowa
Letter to the Editor
Friday, January 29, 2008
re: “NASA
scientist wrong to speak out against Marshalltown plant,”
Dr.
Tim Ball, Times-Republican, 18 January
Dr. Timothy Ball is quite correct to point out how inappropriate
it is for a leading NASA scientist/bureaucrat (James Hansen)
to become an anti-coal activist (January 18, 2008: "NASA
scientist wrong to speak out against Marshalltown plant").
For many Americans, it is insulting that someone, paid
by the public purse, is not held accountable for wild
statements that are effectively supporting of a political
position. Those in highly visible leadership positions
in government are not entitled to give opinions as private
citizens on public policy matters, legal or illegal.*
Hansen's statements before the committee were scientifically
misleading as well for the following reasons:
1. The Earth temperature has been dropping since 2001
while the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) has been going
up, reflecting the fact that the small 11-solar cycles
variations are more important to climate change than greenhouse
gas content.
2. Professor Richard S. Lindzen, a leading meteorologist
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, among others,
has shown that the thermodynamics of CO2 prove that even
doubling CO2 content will only add a miniscule amount
to earth temperature, because the effect is logarithmic,
not linear - this means that, as the amount of CO2 in
the atmosphere increases, its impact on temperature diminishes.
Since doubling of CO2 is not on the horizon, doomsday
predictions may be regarded as nothing more than political
statements.
3. The U. S Department of Energy has published figures
showing that only about 4% of the annual carbon dioxide
budget of the earth is owing to the sum total of human
emissions.
It is difficult to see how coal plant CO2 emissions would
be particularly important, no matter what James Hansen
says about the results of his computer models.
Yours truly,
Lee C. Gerhard, PhD, Geology
Senior Scientist Emeritus
The University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS
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